Countdown to the End: Day 2

Today we had 60 minute classes, and only the odd period classes. The schedule was this way for final testing. Everything went as planned until one of my students said that she didn’t get a lot done when I was gone because they mostly talked about what happened to a classmate. I must have looked confused because that student then said, “You didn’t hear?” I asked what happened. Multiple students tried to explain, and I picked out the gist of it. A former student that graduated last year had a few people at her house over the weekend, and my student was playing around with lighter fluid. It got out of hand and somehow lighter fluid got on his shirt and somehow it was lit. He inhaled when it lit, and burned his insides, mainly his lungs. He burned his chest, and side of his face. The other people/students at the house didn’t call 9-1-1, instead they put this burned boy in a cold shower. The other people there took a picture of him and sent it out as a snapchat. One of my students got the snapchat and took a screen shot of it. He showed it to me, and it was the most awful thing I’ve ever seen. His chest and face were completely raw. I don’t think I’ll ever forget his face. He looked like such a little boy, and his face was in such agony. No one took him to the hospital until the next morning. I went through the rest of the day in a haze, and all I could think about was his face. 

After school I found his special ed case manager to see how he was. He’s in the Iowa City burn unit with second and third degree burns. He has to have skin grafts, and reconstructive surgery on his face. I spoke about this with other teachers, and some of the middle school teachers mentioned names of middle school students that were there. Some of the teachers questioned a student that was there only to have the response be, “he didn’t remember to stop, drop, and roll.” After hearing that my sadness went to anger, and I could not wait to be done teaching. Also, I thought I should report the picture that I saw to administration, just because they thought it was funny and a big joke. I’m a mandatory reporter, and that is most definitely abuse of a minor, not to mention bullying. I can’t believe they would do that.

When some students get difficult,
 I think of other students that have
 been successful. Above: my students pictured
with the Lt. Governor at an Expo we hosted. 

I know I made the right decision because I won’t have to worry about being sued by a parent for any reason.